This gimp tutorial is using a lace texture, but you could use this technique with many other types of textures.
Every now and then I have to wait for some pages to load due to our slow broadband. During this wait time every now and then I tinker with resources I have stashed on my hard drive. I thought that it would be cool to share the results of my “slow broadband break” the other day!
Resources used:
Lace: http://satoshistock.deviantart.com/art/Lace-005-195460985
Open Gimp & Drag your layer into the editor window or right click>open with Gimp
Select All>Edit>Copy then Edit>Paste As>New Layer
Click on the Eye symbol to hide the background layer
Colors>Desaturate>Luminosity Radio Button
Colors>Curves (drag the little line as shown in 2 spots – to make the background a little darker)
When you are finished it should look like this:
Now we need to remove the background behind the lace.
- Colors>Color to Alpha>from #000000 (black) to alpha
It should look like this when you are done:
Note: If you would like for the lace to be black, after this step go to colors>invert. I duplicated my layer and did the invert so I would have both white and a black version.
At this point you should probably save your work. File>Save As>Filename.xcf or .psd (to preserve layers)
That’s it! You can add another layer underneath the lace and add a colored background, texture or pattern.Edit: I’ve added this screenshot for those who are new to gimp and aren’t familiar with how the layers dialogue works. My setup looks a bit different as I changed the way my tools are positioned. By default with fresh gimp installs, I think that the layers dialogue should be visible in the top row of tabs on the dock opposite of your toolbox.
Just look for the layers icon in your set of dock tabs. At the bottom of this window, click the icon that looks like a page to add a new layer. You can also duplicate a preexisting layer by clicking on the icon that looks like 2 pictures stacked together. Make sure you have the layer selected (by clicking on it) when you do this.
Another way to do it is to go to the top, Layer>New Layer or Layer>Duplicate Layer.
If for some reason you don’t see this tab, go to Windows>Dockable Dialogues>Layers. You can also make the layers tab appear by holding the control key and L at the same time.
To reorder layers, just click inside this dialogue on the layer you want to move and drag it to wherever you would like to position it.
